Friday, November 19, 2010

It looks like the tradeoff of liberty versus security playing out in our nation's airports has finally crossed the line for enough people.

Most people, unfortunately, have missed the point about the TSA and all the x-raying and groping. It's not about keeping us safe, it's about making the government bigger and more powerful.

In this podcast, I talk about:- The proper perspective on the risks of air travel- Why if the Islamic Jihadists didn't exist, we would have to invent them- The history of airline security and how it has evolved- What's REALLY been happening since 9/11, and- What we should be doing instead of naked body scanners and genital groping.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A brief (10 minute) podcast on a topic I thought you might find interesting. Note that this audio podcast is also available as a video podcast on my rarely-used You Tube channel.

I can't use the audio or video, but I was present for a very recent talk by Steve Forbes, perhaps the most famous capitalist in the world, and afterward I had an opportunity to interview him briefly on camera.

He spoke about his new book, "How Capitalism Will Save Us" and he gave his perspective on the problems in today's economy and how they will be resolved. His underlying assumption is that rationality will emerge among the political class, driven by the reawakening of the American people.

Steve Forbes is warm and friendly in person and self-deprecating in his public speaking. He referred to himself multiple times as "Pollyanish" in his optimism for the future. There is no doubt that capitalism and free markets could save us. The question is whether they will be given a chance to do so. (I asked him that question on camera, and he gave an interesting answer, which I describe in the podcast.)

We share Forbes' long-term optimism for America, though in contrast with his sunny view of the transition, we do not expect rationality to emerge. To the contrary, we expect the Dependency Culture (and the Parasitical Elites who use them as human shields) to hang on for dear life, until a very messy crash rids us of their destructive nonsense. It is after the collapse occurs that we will have a reasonable chance to rebuild and give birth to our vision for "New America".

Well this may have been more timely for Halloween, but regardless, in this podcast I read and comment on Tom Baugh's latest article about a truly scary potential terrorist attack on New York City.

Motivated perhaps by the damaging economic policies of our government, another government (or sufficiently wealthy individual) funds an undetectable, low-tech, slow-rolling nuclear-based assault on the financial capital of the US. Within weeks, tens or even hundreds of thousands become stricken and die from radiation poisoning.

Is it possible? I am presuming it is, and in absence of a real strategy, I am hoping that if it is possible it is at least very unlikely that we will be attacked in this way. I'm hoping that the fear of American retaliation puts this off limits to any government or organization tempted to try it.

Tom's article is also a great read--it reminds me of Tom Clancy's description of the first moments of a nuclear explosion, in The Sum of All Fears.

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